Question

The energy in the typical thunderstorm is about 1.4×1011j. a typical lightning flash transfers 30 c across a potential difference of 30 mv. assuming such flashes occur every 5 s in the thunderstorm, roughly how long could the storm continue if its electric energy were not replenished? express your answer using two significant figures.

Answer 1

780 seconds, or 13 minutes.

In the future, please use proper capitalization. There's a significant difference in the meaning between mV and MV. One of them indicated millivolts while the other indicates megavolts. For this problem, I'll make the following assumptions about the values presented. They are:
Total energy = 1.4x10^11 Joules (J)
Current per flash = 30 Columbs (C)
Potential difference = 30 Mega Volts (MV)

First, let's determine the power discharged by each bolt. That would be the current multiplied by the voltage, so
30 C * 30x10^6 V = 9x10^8 CV = 9x10^8 J

Now that we know how many joules are dissipated per flash, let's determine how flashes are needed.
1.4x10^11 / 9x10^8 = 1.56E+02 = 156

Since each flash takes 5 seconds, that means that it will take about 5 * 156 = 780 seconds which is about 780/60 = 13 minutes.